In
response to protests from
some users that the latest
HTC Windows Mobile smartphones have a poorer video quality then previous,
less powerful devices, HTC recently said that some top engineers have
investigated the video performance on the affected devices and have discovered a
fix that they claim will dramatically improve performance for common on-screen
tasks like scrolling and the like. The fix would help most of HTC's recent
touch-screen smartphones including the
HTC Touch family of
devices and the HTC
TyTN II/ AT&T Tilt,
Sprint Mogul/Verizon
XV6900. The update is in testing and HTC hopes to release it soon.

However,
as described earlier, this fix is not a new video driver to utilize hardware
acceleration of the Qualcomm chip; it is a software optimization. Video drivers
are a much more complicated issue that involves companies and engineers beyond
HTC alone:

"HTC does plan to offer software upgrades (only) that will increase feature
functionality, over the air wireless speeds and other enhancements for some of
the phones being criticized, but we do not anticipate including any additional
support for the video acceleration issues cited in customer complaints. It is
important for customers to understand that bringing this functionality to market
is not a trivial driver update and requires extensive software development and
time.

HTC will utilize hardware video acceleration like the ATI Imageon in many
upcoming products. Our users have made it clear that they expect our products to
offer an improved visual experience, and we have included this feedback into
planning and development of future products.

To address lingering questions about HTC's current MSM 7xxx devices, it is
important to establish that a chipset like an MSM7xxx is a platform with a vast
multitude of features that enable a wide range of devices with varied
functionality. It is common that devices built on platforms like Qualcomm's will
not enable every feature or function.

In addition to making sure the required hardware is present, unlocking extended
capabilities of chipsets like the MSM 7xxx requires in-depth and time consuming
software development, complicated licensing negotiations, potential intellectual
property negotiations, added licensing fees, and in the case of devices that are
sold through operators, the desire of the operator to include the additional
functionality."

While the initiators of
HTCClassAction.org are not satisfied with this response, at least there is
some serious hope that this software update provides a fix for the vast majority
of users.